What we do

Contact the Elderly is a national charity and organises monthly Sunday afternoon tea parties for people over 75 who live alone with little or no support from family and friends.

One Sunday afternoon a month volunteers use their car to take older members to and from a volunteer host’s home for tea, cake and companionship. Our hosts take it in turn to welcome the small group of older people and volunteer drivers into their home for a few hours.

These Sunday afternoon tea parties are a lifeline of friendship bringing older people and volunteers together for an afternoon of stories, laughter and conversation.

Find out more about volunteering

See a short film about how the group works

Our unique service

Whilst we work closely with numerous statutory and voluntary organisations concerned with older people, our service remains unique:

• We provide a group activity that encourages:

• discrete regular monitoring of the health and welfare of particularly vulnerable people
• relationships to develop between older group members and volunteers
• inter-generational links

• We operate at weekends when most other services for older people are not available and Sundays can therefore be a particularly lonely day of the week, especially for older people who live alone. Many volunteers are unable to help within their community during the working week, and our volunteering opportunities fit in with a busy working life.

• We offer private hospitality, often within a family environment - a rare alternative to the institutional day or residential care usually available to frail, older people.

Increasingly, evidence shows that loneliness and the associated social isolation of older people plays a pivotal role, affecting both their physical and mental health.

Social Services and other health providers use our services for older clients, especially depressed by isolation, knowing that it may help reverse the condition.

Find out how you can join our group as a member or refer someone to a local group